Europe/Russia

CAMRA membership declines to eight-year low

United Kingdom | For centuries, the wooden real ale pump has been the hallmark of a good British pub. But now problems are brewing for the Campaign for Real Ale, Britain’s most influential consumer movement. It has seen its membership sink to an eight-year low and its accounts show it made a pre-tax loss of GBP 800,000 (USD 1.1 million) last year. Membership dropped to 143,038 (for the financial year ending 30 November 2025), down from over 192,000 eight years prior.

Because of staggering overhead costs and budget shortfalls, CAMRA last year cancelled its flagship Great British Beer Festival, formerly the largest of its kind in the UK, for the foreseeable future. This severely limited their ability to recruit new members in person.

Founded in 1971, CAMRA describes itself as an independent volunteer organisation, campaigning for real ale, real pubs and consumer rights, but the challenge is converting that legacy into relevance for a changing drinking public.

Danny Ziebarth argued (24 August) in a Substack blog that the membership decline is significant because “CAMRA’s influence comes from a large, active membership of volunteers, who survey pubs, organise festivals, campaign against closures, maintain local knowledge, and turn enthusiasm for beer into public pressure.”

It does not help that CAMRA’s real ale audience now shares the beer landscape with craft breweries, taprooms, alcohol-free beer, imported beers, and drinkers who may value provenance and local pubs but are not “real ale” enthusiasts.

The pub connection

Media commentators interpreted CAMRA’s membership decline as a bad omen for the wider pub industry. In a way this is true. Local CAMRA campaigners often bring attention to threatened pubs, planning applications, poor beer quality, and the disappearance of choice from tied estates. But as a consumer pressure group, CAMRA is the only politically independent organisation that can lobby the government for political measures that limit the market power of Britain’s beer oligopoly to the benefit of publicans and ultimately the consumer. 

Mr Ziebarth concludes that membership decline and financial losses should be read as a warning, not an obituary. “CAMRA has survived for more than half a century because it turned consumer frustration into practical action. Its next chapter depends on doing that again by preserving what makes British beer culture special while giving a new generation a reason to join the campaign.”

Europe/Russia

Interview | When it comes to German figures on alcohol consumption, data are cherry-picked, estimates and computed figures are jumbled together, relative figures are published without absolute figures – and lo and behold: Germany becomes a country of heavy drinkers. Which was presumably the plan. However, this is far from true and the physician Dr Winfried Maatz proves it in his recently published book*.

Europe/Russia

Heineken brewery in Lucerne will be turned into a “city brewery”

Switzerland | The consolidation of Heineken’s European brewery network continues. In Switzerland, the Dutch brewer will invest a double-digit million figure of Swiss francs in its Lucerne facility. A new “city brewery” will be built on the 38,000-sqm grounds of the Eichhof brewery, which also doubles as Heineken’s Swiss headquarters. In a press release (27 August), Heineken announced that Eichhof products will continue to be brewed in Lucerne, but also limited-edition and seasonal specialty beers. Larger production volumes will be shifted to Heineken’s Calanda brewery in Chur. The new facility is scheduled to open in 2030.

Europe/Russia

Russia reclassifies beer, wines and vapes as “Strategic Goods”

Russia | The government has added light alcoholic beverages – including still and sparkling wines, beer, and ciders – along with electronic cigarettes, vape liquids, and nicotine salts to its list of strategically important goods, as was reported by The Moscow Times on 18 August. Under the updated Russian Criminal Code, individuals caught bringing these items across the Russian border or the Eurasian Economic Union without proper customs clearance face up to five years in prison if the shipment exceeds RUB 100,000 (USD 1100).

Europe/Russia

Denmark | Shares in Carlsberg fell on 19 August after the brewer reported first half results which were below consensus forecasts. Carlsberg's B shares were down 3.3 percent in late-morning Copenhagen trading. First-half revenue rose by just 2.6 percent to DKK 47 billion (USD 7.3 billion), while adjusted operating profit increased 4.5 percent to DKK 7.45 billion (USD 1.16 billion). Both results were slightly below forecasts. 

Europe/Russia

Warsteiner is facing an existential crisis

Germany | It is an open secret in the chatty German brewing industry that Warsteiner’s owner Catharina Cramer is keeping the Haus Cramer Group afloat with her personal fortune, media report. The recently published 2024 annual report reveals that she has issued a so-called letter of support and subordination agreement totalling EUR 20 million (USD 23 million), which is valid through September 2027.

Europe/Russia

Obituary: Werner Brombach

The cosmopolitan Bavarian and owner of Erdinger brewery, known for his iconic eyewear, died 8 August, aged 86.

Europe/Russia

United Kingdom | Diageo released its highly anticipated turnaround plans on 6 August, which will see the world’s major drinks group nearly double Guinness production, while cutting back a “significant” proportion of its 30,000-strong workforce. Speaking after the company announced a decline in sales but slightly better-than-expected operating profit for its financial year 2026, the new CEO Dave Lewis said his turnaround plan would involve job cuts, adding that the “consequences of that are not great for anybody”.

Europe/Russia

Diageo’s growth issues – what commentators say

United Kingdom | Diageo’s USD 1.2 billion restructuring scheme tells you everything about the premiumization myth that has dominated the alcohol industry for the past decade. As Vitali Dziadul noted on LinkenIn, “the spirits category spent years convincing investors that consumers would endlessly trade up, that premium and super-premium segments were recession-proof, that emerging middle classes in Asia would fuel limitless growth. Diageo leaned into this narrative harder than most. Now reality arrives. Sales are declining in North America and Asia Pacific simultaneously.”

Europe/Russia

Row over Tory plan to stop Soho pub goers standing up

United Kingdom | Puritans on the march: Westminster Council, the now-Conservative-run local authority that covers London’s most popular drinking spots, has set out its ambition to radically limit “vertical drinking” (drinking while standing up) under a revision of its licensing policies. A consultation document, shared by the Guardian newspaper on 9 August, proposed to either forcing venues to provide a “minimum number of seats at all times” or “requiring sales to be by waiter or waitress service only”.